Have you been brainstorming to come up with some fresh, effective managing and training strategies and techniques that can boost production? If so, you’re like many other entrepreneurs who feel as if they’ve tried everything to no avail, often finding production targets hard to hit or ever improve upon. It’s like a business version of the old writer’s block problem, and the remedy often calls for a new perspective, or at the very least the willingness to experiment with novel approaches. The following methods include both old and new managerial concepts that have the potential to help you break out of a rut and take your organization to new heights.
When employees don’t seem to respond or appear lethargic during the early stages of a major project, it’s essential to build authentic feedback and transparency into task structure. For example, consider letting everyone know there will be weekly discussion sessions in which they’ll be allowed to give uncensored feedback about how things are going. It also makes sense to make assignment lists, responsibility charts, and daily target reports available to everyone on the relevant team. Responsible adults are happy to put in an honest day’s work, but they tend to give 100 percent when superiors ask for feedback and use fully transparent arrangements.
Some owners of small and large businesses have a natural fear that relying on technical solutions will potentially cut into their human-based authority. Nothing could be more off-target. In organizations of all kinds, leaders who leverage the power of tech usually end up on the winning end of the stick. A perfect example is the use of fleet management in the transport sector. When employee-driven vehicles are spread out over wide geographic regions, it’s impossible to keep tabs on route progress, monitor real-time incidents, offer in-cab instruction to drivers, or observe weather conditions without AI dash cameras.
These high-quality truck cams are the management’s eyes and ears inside expensive equipment as it moves valuable cargo to and from. The fear of mechanical devices is a very old one and appears to have its roots in the human tendency to feel uncomfortable with anything new. But, by embracing tech-based solutions instead of avoiding them, it’s possible to achieve efficiency levels that would otherwise be impossible.
Human beings, young and old, enjoy being recognized for their accomplishments. The idea of how the mind responds to recognition is the basis for the entire field of psychology and there is a science behind why recognition matters in the workplace. You can use the core concepts to motivate the people who work for you. It’s not about being manipulative. In fact, paychecks are the most obvious and common form of showing people that their efforts are valued.
However, it’s too easy to fall into the trap of believing you pay your people well and that’s all the recognition they need. Money is a necessary but not sufficient motivator for the vast majority or working adults. That’s why successful corporations used dozens of programs, contests, goal-setting sessions, and achievement parties to demonstrate how much they appreciate those who do the everyday chores that make the organization tick.
Managers have two unique duties that few others in a company have: they must know how and when to troubleshoot problems and understand the most appropriate way to terminate an employee. Troubleshooting is part art and part science. Don’t expect to master the method without at least a year or two of experience.
But even if it’s your first day on the management team, be ready to step into the middle of a project and change personnel, strategies, goals, and more. If you decide that one or more people need to be removed from a working group or the company, be sure to cover all the legal bases and follow corporate guidelines before doing the deed. Consider getting legal advice beforehand, having well-documented reasons for letting someone go, and rehearsing the talk at least twice before the termination meeting.
Democratic and authoritative leadership styles seem to win hearts and minds more than coercive, unbending ones do. Democratic managers let everyone have a say about most of the decisions made during a project, while authoritative leaders offer even-handed, but firm guidance that allows for understandable, long-term goals to be achieved easily. No matter which style is prevalent management development training should always be a piece of the puzzle.
Coercive behavior, on the part of owners or office management teams, can lead to production downturns and even work stoppage? That’s because coercing, or operating from a mindset of “You’ll do it that way because I’m the boss, and that’s what I want” invariably alienates people. You might get excellent results on one task but rarely will blunt coercion work for more than a few days.
If you have the chance to observe higher-ups or mentors within the middle management team, notice that excellent motivators usually have two things in common. Most of them lead by example, whether the jobs at hand are large or small ones. That means practicing behaviors like being punctual, communicating in non-threatening ways, observing diligent work habits, and treating everyone with respect. The second key, after serving as a living example for others, is to practice macro-management, which is the philosophical opposite of micromanagement. Especially in smaller organizations, it can be tough to just let people do their jobs, allow them to make and learn from mistakes, and encourage them to ask for help.
In small and medium-sized entities, one of the best ways to gather useful information about your employees is to occasionally practice MBWA (management by walking around), a technique pioneered in the 1960 and one that’s still popular in the 2020s. There’s no defined set of rules for MBWA, but those who practice it say that the key is randomness, or choosing different times each day, or every other day, to wander about the physical office space, stopping to chat as needed, ask questions, and generally get a real-time view of what’s going on. Keep in mind that, in addition to MBWA, it’s entirely possible to combine any or all of the above suggestions, experiment with various ones, and ultimately make up your own method for fostering an environment that enhances production.